The Servant of Belial
by Akuma u oka
Summary: It's been two months since Bernhardt's plan was stopped by Kazuma, but members of the Kannagi clan have been found dead, killed by dark magic. Kazuma and Ayano also encounter a strange boy who has a strangely familiar dark aura.
1. The Game Begins

"_And you Akuma," Bernhardt turned to a young man," You are to kill the Kannagi Family and Kazuma Yagami." _

_The young man, named Akuma Satsuriku, hissed in low laughter._

" _It will be done." He rasped._

_Bernhardt looked up at the calm night sky._

" _Finally, my comrade's death will be avenged."_

_Bernhardt started to laugh like a madman, and Akuma walked away disappearing into a black hole that swallowed him._

Akuma floated above the huge Kannagi estate; he surveyed the land with an air of distaste, and floated down slowly. He landed in front of a small house that belonged to one of the smaller branch families. Akuma threw open the door.

" Who's there?" Came a nervous voice from a corner of the room.

Akuma laughed crazily and made a slashing movement with his hand. The figure in bed let out a small grunt of pain before the top half of his body separated from the lower half with a spurt of dark crimson blood. Akuma laughed again; the two other inhabitants were beginning to wake up and when they saw their brother's mangled body, they tried to get out of bed. But Akuma was two fast for them; in a flash of movement Akuma put his hand to the face of one and released a bolt of dark energy which vaporized his head and sent the rest of his body flying through the thin walls of the house. The other fell on his knees.

" Please have mercy!" He pleaded.

A wide grin spread across Akuma's face. The branch family member scrambled to get away in fear, but Akuma made another slashing movement and the branch family member's body separated with a splash of blood. Akuma let out a sinister laugh before melting into darkness.

The Kannagi family came running to the scene, but saw only the carnage that Akuma had left behind. He heard a girl scream and a man swear vengeance from where he was floating far above.

"This is too easy," he thought," I'm going to make it much more interesting."

The next morning, Akuma landed in front of the Kannagi estate. Akuma walked onto the Kannagi property and toward a small house at the center of the property, which he believed was the house of the head of the family. On his way to the house, members of the Kannagi family surrounded him.

" We can't let you through here!" One of the Kannagis shouted.

" We've been ordered to stop anyone from coming through here!" Said another.

Akuma rasped," Well, can't you make an exception?"

Just then, a man with long grey hair pushed his way through the crowd of Kannagis.

" What is the meaning of this?" He demanded.

" This guy was trying to get in, but we stopped him!" Yelled a Kannagi from the crowd.

Jugo commanded them to disperse and apologized to Akuma," I'm sorry, they're on edge because some of our relatives were just killed. My name is Jugo and I'm the head of the Kannagi family, what was your name again?"

Akuma grinned maliciously, this was getting interesting; here was the head of the Kannagi family was, standing in front of him, but he had to tread carefully knowing that if he were discovered, it would ruin his fun.

" My name is Akuma Satsuriku, and so I'm sorry to hear the deaths of your family members," he crooned," If there's anything I can do to help, let me know. You have my deepest condolences."

Jugo looked taken aback by his offer, but recovered quickly.

" Actually, we were looking for some people to help investigate the crime, but why are you so interested?" Asked Jugo suspiciously.

Akuma pretended to be taken aback." I just wanted to help the prestigious Kannagi Clan avenge the death of some of its members. Also since I'm an aspiring mage myself, it would be my honor to help the most powerful enjutsushi family in the world."

Akuma grinned again, this was going just the way he had planned it.

" Well," Jugo said hesitantly," I suppose you can help, but I won't be able to pay you much."

Akuma's grin widened evilly, this was exactly as he had wanted it to turn out, this was going to be very interesting.

" The pay will be no problem, but we should probably start investigating the crime immediately.

" I agree, the other members of the investigative force that I've put together are already at the scene," Jugo said.

As Akuma followed Jugo, he saw some of the Kannagi clan members pointing at him.

" Who is that guy?"

"I dunno but he looks pretty powerful."

" I wonder if he's another Fujutsushi like Kazuma?"

Akuma stiffened, that name… Bernhardt had told him to kill Kazuma Yagami, so this Kazuma was a Fujutsushi; this was getting even better by the second.

When Jugo and Akuma arrived at the house where Akuma had murdered the three Kannagis, they were met by the investigation force. They introduced themselves as: Catherine McDonald, Kirika Tachibana, Kazuma Yagami, Ayano Kannagi, and Genma Kannagi. Akuma could sense a lot of power radiating Kazuma; he was the strongest of the people he had to kill, and he would have to keep an eye on him.

" How are you? My name is Akuma Satsuriku, and Jugo has let me help with the investigation of the crime," Akuma said with a sweeping bow.

" Well he's certainly flamboyant," muttered Kirika under her breath.

Akuma pretended not to hear this and shook everyone on the investigation team's hand and stopping to lightly kiss Ayano's hand, who blushed scarlet.

The only one who wasn't buying Akuma's act was Kazuma; he had sensed that something was wrong with this guy from the beginning and had just decided to keep an eye on Akuma.

" Is something wrong Kazuma?" Ayano asked.

" No- nothing. Just thinking," Kazuma responded quickly.

Akuma and the rest of the team began to look at the bodies of the people murdered. The bodies were starting to get unnatural black and purple splotches around the areas where Akuma had hit them with the dark energy.

"That is positively disgusting!" Declared Catherine.

" Oh here we go again," groaned Ayano.

"What was that Ms. Kannagi?" The two girls were starting to get into a fight until Kazuma got in between them and told them to knock it off.

Akuma sneered at the sight of the investigation team. The only ones taking seriously were Kirika and the police who were examining the bodies.

" I would say they were killed by wind magic but…" Kirika said.

"That's not wind magic," said Kazuma," The cuts are too clean and the third body wasn't, well no wind magic could do that." He pointed at the body whose head and part of the right shoulder had been vaporized.

The team shuddered.

" Who would do something like this to us?" Demanded Ayano.

" That's what we're trying to find out, stupid!" jeered Catherine.

The two were starting to square off for another fight when Kirika interrupted them.

" Wait a second. What are those marks?" She said pointing at the black and purple splotches.

Kazuma growled," Those were made by dark energy."

The team became silent as they though about what that meant. Akuma, who was leaning against the wall of the house, listening with one eye open, suddenly spoke up.

" In that case, they were probably attacked by a powerful youma." He said.

" Yeah!" agreed Ayano," When Ryuya fought me, his aura infected me and I had the same thing!"

"When Ryuya defeated you, you mean." Correct Kazuma.

Ayano growled in protest but Akuma cut her off.

" If it's a youma, we should search the property, don't you think? It would be kinda dangerous jut to let it roam free." He said. " We should split up and look for it."

The others agreed but Kazuma was uneasy about this decision to split up, but he could use it as an opportunity to see what Akuma's real purpose for joining the task force was.

The investigative force split up: Ayano with Kazuma, Kirika with Catherine, and Kazuma made sure to have Akuma go with several policemen. Akuma grinned evilly as he walked off with the policemen; they were a liability and had to be disposed of, a good way to strengthen his evidence that the murders were the work of a youma. Ayano and Kazuma went west, Kirika and Catherine took the east of the Kannagi estate, and Akuma's unit went north into the forest. Akuma led the policemen who had their guns drawn, which wouldn't be that much help against a youma, but it was better than nothing. Akuma strode into a clearing in the forest and whipped around to face the policemen, who looked puzzled at his decision to stop. Akuma grinned at the policemen and raised his hand. The policemen got even more confused until one of them saw the mass of dark energy that Akuma had created.

Kazuma and Ayano were making their way around the west side of the Kannagi estate when they felt the earth shake and looked over to see a cloud of dust in the direction Akuma's group had taken.

"Dammit!" Cursed Kazuma.

He swooped Ayano up in his arms and flew over to the clearing where the policemen were lying lifeless, strewn over the crater where the clearing had been.

As the dust cleared, Akuma stumbled into the crater.

" What the hell happened here?" Akuma coughed.

" I guess the youma attacked them," Ayano said softly.

Kazuma frowned; that would explain the crater, but why had Akuma appeared only after the explosion, unhurt?

" I got separated from the police for awhile and I guess this happened. Damn!" Said Akuma.

Akuma grinned maliciously; this was going as well as he had planned. Not only was he on the investigation team, but he had created a fake story about a youma as well! These Kannagis were certainly entertaining, and they would believe anything.

The only one that was troubling was Kazuma… He seemed to suspect Akuma, but he could deal with Kazuma when the time came. Kirika and Catherine met them at the crater. They seemed as surprised as Kazuma and Ayano when they saw the huge crater that Akuma had created.

" No ordinary youma could do this," said Kazuma with a glance at Akuma.

No matter how he looked at it, it was impossible for someone of Akuma's energy output to do this much damage, but there was still something familiar about his aura; there was a toxic darkness to it and Kazuma couldn't figure out what it was.

When the investigative force reported back to Jugo what had happened, he frowned.

" A youma? I doubt that, but it is possible. If that's true, I'll send out Genma with some of the branch family members to hunt it down. But we should call it a day, much has happened and Genma and the branch family members will take care of the youma. Good work." The members of the investigative team left one by one. Until Akuma and Jugo were left.

" Ah, Akuma. I had wanted to speak to you about something. I would offer you to stay here, but with this youma roaming around, it seems dangerous so I would advise keeping your current arrangements." Akuma stood up and walked out onto the Kannagi estate; it was now almost pitch dark. Akuma's eye glinted as he sneered out into the darkness. It was time to have some more fun with the Kannagis…

**Sorry if it was a bit gruesome at the beginning, but this is my first Fanfic. Please review!**


	2. The Game Continues

_Akuma stood in a clearing in the middle of the forest that bordered the Kannagi estate; he stood with his eyes closed, monitoring the auras of the search party that Jugo had sent out. Those fools, walking straight into their deaths, pathetic. A couple auras were getting close to Akuma, and from what he could tell, they were minor branch family members. Akuma decided to have some fun so he stopped concealing his energy. The effect was almost immediate._

" I can feel it! The youma's really close!"

" Lets kill it!"

"Yeah! Then we'll be more respected than Kazuma!"  
Akarui sneered; these fools were too confident in their abilities, they wouldn't be any fun to play with. The four branch family members strode into the clearing, looking for a youma. When they saw Akuma, they were puzzled until they realized that he was the one that the aura was coming from. Akuma let a crazy-looking grin slide across his face.

" How could you do this to our-" One of the branch family members said, but was stopped when Akuma slashed him in half, spraying dark blood on the dusty earth.

" You Bastard!" The other three branch family members charged Akuma who stood there while they rushed him, inflamed at the loss of their brother.

Suddenly, Akuma released his energy in a flare of black light; the three branch family members were thrown backwards and dropped lifelessly to the ground while their skin slowly blackened from taking so much of Akuma's dark energy directly. Akuma cackled; these Kannagis were so entertaining! The other auras had gathered into a group and were moving toward Akuma's location. Akuma smirked; they would never catch him, their search was futile. Akuma stepped into a black hole and disappeared.

The next morning the investigation team was called in by Jugo, who seemed extremely agitated.

" I'm afraid we've made a mistake in believing that the killer was a youma. It seems that the murderer is actually an extremely powerful dark mage."

Akuma stiffened; that was impossible! There was no way they could've deduced that his energy signature was different than a youma's, he had been sure of that. Akuma glanced at Kazuma who was smirking at him. That bastard, he must've told Jugo that he suspected a human of the murders! Akuma calmed himself. He couldn't seem too agitated by the news or his little game would be over, and that was no fun.

Jugo continued," It seems the killer has also killed four more branch family members, but there seems to have been ten murders of civilians late last night, the same dark energy was on them. I will need you, my investigation team, to find this killer and stop him. We can't have him killing off Kannagis and civilians, tensions with the police are already running high after what happened yesterday. Do you understand?"

The investigation team muttered their agreement.

Akuma relaxed; they had found the other bodies. He had killed them to lay a false trail, knowing that they would be sent to investigate those while he could quietly continue his eradication of the Kannagis. He might have to kill a couple more civilians, but what did their lives matter to him? His game was much more important.

Akuma and the rest of the investigation team arrived at Kirika's police headquarters to map out the evidence they had gathered so far. Akuma was planning out his next move. He would have Lapis kill one of the three remaining branch family members, and some civilians to throw them off his trail. It was almost too simple, but then again, these were the Kannagis: too cocky in their own abilities to really see who was pulling the strings.

Kazuma frowned at the pictures of the civilian's bodies. Some of them looked like they had been killed by some sort of bade while the rest looked like they had been killed by dark energy. And then there was Akuma. Kazuma had suspected him from the moment they'd met; Kazuma decided to tell Kirika of his suspicions and have someone tail Akuma. As Kazuma walked over to Kirika to tell her his suspicions, he was intercepted by Catherine.

" Oh Kazuma!" She said as she grabbed his arm, and pulled him against her.

" Oh goddammit, not aga-" was all he had time to think before Ayano's Enraiha was out and blazing.

" Hey you! Bimbo! Don't you think you should be helping Kirika with the investigation?" Ayano yelled, enraged.

Kazuma groaned and separated the two girls, who were now trying to scratch each other.

Akuma sneered; Kazuma may be the only one he had to be worried about but those two idiot girls would keep him occupied for now. Akuma walked over to Kirika and leaned against the wall near the TV screens.

" Don't you think that it's suspicious that the wounds on the bodies are different?" Akuma asked Kirika slowly.

" Well now that you mention it Akuma, I do."

"Well don't you think that maybe we should set a trap for the killer?"

" Well, it seems pretty risky. The killer seems to be an extremely powerful dark mage so I don't think we would gain anything from a trap except another dead body to deal with." Kirika said curtly.

Akuma grinned; he ow new that they weren't going to set a trap which would have required him to make some adjustments to his method of killing. As of now, all he had to worry about was Kazuma ruining his fun.

Genma, who had been leaning against a wall in the corner with his eyes closed, stood up and walked out of the building. He had had enough of the dysfunctional investigation team. He was going to take matters into his own hands now.

Akuma smiled as Genma left; it was his fault the investigation team's first conclusion had been way off the mark, and he had gotten Genma to leave. It was only a matter of time before Kazuma would give up on the unfocused team and try to solve the case on his own. With those two gone, they wouldn't make much progress without the police's resources and he, Akuma, could make sure that the investigation team slowly but surely fell apart as he finished the Kannagis off; it was going to be fun, that was for sure.

Kazuma had also seen Genma leave and remembered what he had to say to Kirika.

" Kirika?"

" What is it, Kazuma?"

" I think we should put a tail on Akuma."

Kirika responded, taken aback," Well, this is out of the blue!"

" Well, I think it would be a good idea, but it needs to be a regular human, though."

" I'm sorry Kazuma, but no one in the police department wants to get involved with this. Why can't you just do it?"

" I believe that Akuma is more powerful than he seems, and if my hunch is right, he'll sense me right away."

Kazuma glanced over at Akuma who was reclining against the wall with his eyes closed.

Kirika said," Well, I guess there is one person. She's a former Japanese secret service agent, and she knows about jujutsushi, I guess I can give her a call if you're serious about this."

Akuma sneered evilly; what a stupid woman!

" Huh, that's strange. She always picks up her cellphone."

They wouldn't be reaching that ex-agent anytime soon. When Akuma had realized that Kazuma wanted to tail him, he had had Lapis pay each ex-government agent who Kirika had in her files. Akuma smirked; everything was going perfectly, as he had planned. Akuma stood up and stretched. The team had decided to pull an all-nighter while they worked on a way to find the killer. Akuma smirked, with Lapis killing the criminals, Kazuma couldn't possibly suspect him; his game could continue. Akuma grinned evilly; One thing was for sure, though:

This game sure was interesting…

**Please Review! **


	3. The Murderous Akuma

_Yuuto Yamaguchi, the head of the Yamaguchi branch family, was walking through the Kannagi estate around 1 A.M. Yuuto had been frustrated by the fact that some pitiful magic user had been able to murder so many Kannagis without being caught. He had taken it upon himself to patrol the estate at night with a few of his family members, and he didn't have to worry because no pathetic dark magic user could kill a Yamaguchi! Yuuto sneered; he was going to kill this bastard who had killed his family members, and before that he would make his death slow and painful. Suddenly Yuuto felt an overwhelming darkness come out of nowhere; Yuuto whipped around to find himself face to face with a sneering young man who was radiating malignant energy. Yuuto screamed and fell backwards, all of his previous confidence gone; the young man swayed slightly as he walked slowly towards Yuuto who scrambled to get up, but tripped over a ranch. The young man raised his hand and made an exaggerated slashing movement and then turned to walk away. That puzzled Yuuto, and when he opened his mouth to jeer at the young man, blood came spilling out._

_Yuuto's upper half fell foreword off of his waist as the young man sneered. The next morning, the rest of the Yamaguchi family had been found dead._

Akuma sneered; killing the Kannagis was fun! Akuma and the investigation team were back at the Kannagi estate, and the investigation team hadn't made any progress as to who was doing the killing. Akuma had had Lapis kill seven more civilians while killing five of his own but, to his delight, Kirika hadn't managed to determine that the killings were the work of two separate killers. Akuma and the investigation team walked toward Jugo's meetinghouse, Kazuma and Kirika were talking in an undertone and Ayano and Catherine were fighting again. Akuma grinned; the investigation team was an incompetent mess. When they reached Jugo's house, a servant led them in, and they all sat down.

" Have you made any progress on the investigation?" Asked Jugo anxiously.

Kirika responded," Well, we have a plan to find out who the killer is, but it's dangerous, but we have decided to put it into action to. Also, we have discovered that most of the civilian murders are the work of the same killer; the killing of most of the civilians was mostly couples."

Akuma sneered; his game was going perfectly. He had told Lapis to kill only couple so that he would have an excuse to send Ayano and Kazuma out together. The two would go to the park where the civilian killings had occurred, and Akuma had told Lapis to kill the couple that she saw first. Akuma hadn't informed Lapis that the only couple that would be in the park that night was going to Ayano and Kazuma as the police was going to create a perimeter around the park so nobody could go in. Lapis wouldn't figure this out because she would just open a portal into the park and wait for her victims, and then she would see Ayano and Kazuma walking and then she would attack. Akuma had judged that Lapis would attack per his orders until she was overwhelmed and then retreat. Akuma would tell Lapis that they had done this without his knowledge, and all the suspicion of his responsibility for the murders would be lifted from his head; most importantly, though, was that his little game could continue.

Kazuma was suspicious of Akuma's plan because it involved him and Ayano leaving Akuma alone with Kirika and Catherine. If Akuma was actually as powerful as Kazuma suspected, he would have no trouble with Kirika and Catherine. Kazuma grimaced; that son of a bitch Akuma had planned this out! If Kazuma refused to do the plan with Ayano, it would create all kinds of problems between him and the Kannagis who were his main source of income. Not to mention that he would look suspicious on top of all that. If Akuma really was the killer, he couldn't risk killing Kirika and Catherine as that would expose him and risk having Kazuma after him. Kazuma calmed himself and left with the rest of the investigation team to get some food and prepare for that night's mission.

Akuma told the rest of the investigation team that he had some errands to run and as soon as they were out of sight, he cloaked himself and returned to the Kannagi estate. Akuma floated above Jugo's meeting house where he cold hear Ren giving Jugo a massage; good, those two wouldn't trouble him and Genma's aura was on the other side of Tokyo. Akuma spotted a branch family member walking by himself and floated to the ground behind him. In a flash, Akuma had his on the face of the branch family member. Akuma sneered at his frightened face; it had been a long time since he had used this technique, but he decided it was better safe than sorry. A green substance came out of the hand that Akuma had on the branch family member's face, and sucked the life energy out of the branch family member. Akuma hungrily absorbed the energy and the green slime sucked back into Akuma's hand. Akuma disintegrated the body with a dark energy blast and looked for his next victim. Akuma sneered; it had been worth it, the energy of a magic user was easily ten times that of a normal human's, and the energy of even a Kannagi branch family member was twice that of a normal magic user's. Akuma proceeded to suck the life out of three more people, careful not to go overboard and put the method of killing into question. If Kirika decided that there were two killers, today's plan would be for nothing. Akuma stepped into a black hole and appeared in a dark alleyway next to the investigation's headquarters. Akuma walked inside and was met by the investigation squad looking at a couple photos of the park where couples had been murdered.

" And so Kazuma, Ayano, you need to be on the lookout for attacks from all angles. Hello Akuma." Kirika said.

" So we're going ahead with the plan?" Akuma said.

" Yeah, and unfortunately I have to go with this jerk!" Yelled Ayano.

" Well if you'd rather that I go with Catherine-" Kazuma started.

" Ka-zu-ma!" Ayano summoned Enraiha and slashed at Kazuma who easily dodged her attack.

Akuma sneered; this was too easy. The Kannagis were so easy to manipulate it was almost not even fun, but their arrogance made up for it all. Kazuma and Ayano finally settled down long enough for Kirika to brief them on their mission.

" You two will need to act like a couple for this assignment so calm down. The police will set up a perimeter around the park so no civilians will get in your way. Your mission is to act like a normal couple on a walk through the park, so play the parts and stop to sit down on a couple park benches or something. You'll need to be on alert for the killer at all times. The second part of the mission is to find out who the murderer is and attempt to catch them with this mission, but the top priority is to find their identity. Also, Akuma and Catherine, you two will be back up for Ayano and Kazuma if they need it so stay close."

Akuma frowned; he had no intention of fighting Lapis and Kazuma would definitely notice if he held back, but keeping his game going was his top priority. Catherine was busy protesting her case that she would be a much better match for Kazuma if they were going for looks, at that point Ayano tackled Catherine and the two went down punching and clawing each other until Kazuma separated them. Akuma smiled at the investigation team; he didn't see why he had to worry, they were too busy fighting amongst themselves to see the bigger enemy.

Finally it was time for the mission to start, and Akuma and Catherine were flying above the park in a helicopter, monitoring Kazuma and Ayano.

Kazuma smirked in the park below; it was now or never. Time for Akuma to show himself as the killer or not at all. Judging by the times of death and the placement and the actual victims, he and Ayano fit the bill perfectly, so even if Akuma didn't attack, it would be almost as good as a full confession. Kazuma offered his arm to Ayano and they strode through the park and stopped at a couple benches, while Kazuma concentrated intensely searching for any evil presences.

Akuma was also concentrating on keeping Lapis hidden because he knew that Kazuma expected him to strike and Akuma almost let out a laugh at how stupid Kazuma was. Who did Kazuma think he was dealing with! Akuma glanced over at Catherine who was sticking her head out of the window trying to watch Ayano and Kazuma's date's progress with binoculars. Akuma could just push her out of the open side of the helicopter and be rid of her annoying comments, but she wasn't worth losing his game over and she wasn't even a Kannagi. Akuma looked at his watch and smiled; almost time, Lapis had arrived around two minutes ago and had spotted Kazuma and Ayano in the park and was on route to attack them while Kazuma searched fruitlessly for a presence.

Kazuma smirked; he hadn't sensed anything and they had walked around for fifteen minutes, Akuma was almost as good as guilty. The moon had just come up and was casting a weak eerie light over the park. Kazuma looked up at the luminous orb; five more minutes and he would return back to head quarters and accuse Akuma of the murders. Suddenly Kazuma saw a shape in front of the moon; it was… a girl with long brown hair and a giant sword. Kazuma stared dazed up at the moon and Ayano tackled him out of the way just in time.

" What are you doing? Do you want to get killed?" Ayano screamed at him, and snapped him out of his dazed state.

Kazuma got up and smirked.

" Long time, no see, Lapis."

Lapis just stared at him coldly, raised her sword and attacked. Kazuma jumped out of the way and fired a blade of wind at her, which she blocked easily. Ayano attacked her from behind with Enraiha, but Lapis dodged and started to press her back with furious attacks. Kazuma shot a tornado at Lapis, and cringed as she flew backwards. It was still hard for him to attack the perfect replica of Tsui Ling. Kazuma scowled; this didn't make any sense, so Akuma wasn't the killer? How did Lapis suddenly get involved? Was this a plan of Bernhardt's?

Kazuma felt a tornado whirling around him as he started to feel his old rage at Bernhardt well up inside of him. The wind whipped faster and faster until even Ayano had trouble staying on feet. Lapis slowly got up, and prepared to attack again, but Kazuma was too fast for her. He appeared behind her, dodged her attack and sent her flying into a tree with a tornado. He put his had on her throat and pressed her on the tree trunk.

" Why are you doing this? Why did Bernhardt have you kill all those innocent people? Answer me dammit!"

Kazuma smashed her into the tree, and Lapis' face contorted with pain.

Up in the helicopter, Akuma's fists were clenched so tightly that blood appeared from under his fingers and dripped onto the floor of the helicopter. What was Lapis doing? She should have fled by now! Akuma tried to calm himself; he couldn't lose his own game just because Lapis got hurt a little bit, but even so Akuma swore to make Kazuma's death as painful as possible. Catherine was cheering Kazuma on, and Akuma had the overwhelming urge to just kill her then and be done with it, but again, she wasn't worth it.

Down in the park, Kazuma was smashing Lapis into the tree relentlessly until Ayano pulled him backwards.

" What are you doing?" She screamed at Kazuma.

Lapis got quickly to her feet, her back was bruised horribly and her dress was ripped. She couldn't understand why Akuma hadn't told her that Kazuma and that girl were going to be there tonight. Lapis opened a portal by slashing the air quickly with her sword and fell inside and disappeared. Next thing she knew Akuma was carrying her in his arms and placing her gently on a bed, and then she passed out again, smiling.

Back at the park, Kazuma slumped against a tree and put his head in his hands. He had let the fact that Lapis looked like Tsui Ling get to him again and he knew it. But he just couldn't understand what all this meant; had he been wrong about suspecting Akuma? Did that mean that Bernhardt was behind all of this?

" Damn it!" Kazuma yelled.

Akuma had landed the helicopter as soon as he had seen that Lapis had teleported, and then hehad opened his own portal and gone to Bernhardt's mansion in London where he was sure she had gone. When he arrived he carried Lapis to her room and teleported back to Tokyo, shaking with anger.

The Kannagi family would pay for this…


	4. The Beginnings of Insanity

When Akuma reached Tokyo, he and Catherine walked to the area of the park where Ayano and Kazuma were sitting on the ground, looking depressed.

" What happened? You had her! Why'd you let her go? The investigation could have been over." Catherine yelled at Ayano.

Ayano whipped to her feet, and summoned Enraiha, but before Ayano and Catherine could begin to fight, Kazuma stood up.

" Ayano was right to stop me, I lost control again."

Catherine stood dumbfounded and Ayano smirked smugly. Kirika reached the four and asked Kazuma what had happened, and Akuma filled her in on what she had missed.

" Well, at least we know who the killer is now." Kirika said, sounding exhausted.

" I suggest you all return home and get some rest. The police and I will try to get as much info as we can, and when we're ready, we'll let you know and you can take them out."

The rest of the investigation team nodded tiredly and went their separate ways. Akuma's face contorted in anger; the Kannagis would pay for this! Akuma walked out of sight into the park and stepped through a portal. He appeared in an alleyway where a gang of weak fire magic users usually met and prepared their next robbery. Akuma spotted the gang of around fourteen people and walked into their circle.

" Hey! Who the hell are y-"?

Before he could finish, Akuma had slashed him in two; Akuma smiled. These pathetic enjutsushi users were so weak, it was pathetic. The gang had gotten up, but before any of them could move, Akuma appeared in the exit to the alleyway. The gang barraged Akuma with fireballs, but they just disintegrated as soon as they hit his aura. Akuma smiled and released his energy. The alleyway, the corner behind the building, and the building itself were destroyed completely. The bodies of the people in the building littered the street and base of the building. Akuma let out a low laugh that escaladed into an uncontrollable fit of insane laughter; when he finally calmed himself, his eyes glinted red. Akuma opened a portal and went off killing more civilians and was creating a citywide panic.

Genma, after he had left the investigation squad, due to its incompetence, had gone to the normal police and requested all the information on the string of murders. He then did some private investigating and examined the bodies. It had taken awhile, but Genma could still make the similarities between Akuma's aura and the one eating at the bodies of the dead. But the only thing from revealing his conclusion was the new string of dead bodies that had appeared. The people had been stabbed or slashed by what looked like a giant blade resembling the one that that girl Kazuma had had problems with used. Genma had been puzzled by this and was waiting for some way to connect the killings. Either way, whether it was Akuma or Lapis, this was probably the work of Bernhardt's. That bastard must've held a grudge against his idiot son's and was attacking his family because of it. When Genma heard what had happened at the park, he decided to question Akuma himself and returned to the Kannagi estate, where he believed Akuma would appear.

Akuma had just killed three gangsters, and had decided to kill more regular people; their pleading for their lives was so very entertaining. Akuma walked into a karaoke club, two girls were singing up on stage. One had long blonde hair, and the other had short spiky blue hair. Akuma was walking towards him when a big, muscular guy knocked into him. The man was thrown back by Akuma's aura and everyone stopped what they were doing to see what would happen.

" Hey! What the hell's wrong with you? Don't you know who your messing wi-" The man said, but was cut off as Akuma stuck his arm through the man's abdomen. Blood sprayed everywhere and chaos erupted in the club. People fought to get out, but Akuma solved this problem by shooting a blast of dark energy through the mass of people, killing about ten of the crown and blasting the rest aside. Akuma strode out onto the street and disappeared.

Enough playing around, it was time to destroy those Kannagi assholes…


	5. Akuma's Rage

" _So human, I offer you a contract, do you accept?"_

Akuma stepped out of a portal on the Kannagi estate, his eyes flaring red with anger as his aura turned toxic black. Akuma walked slowly towards the main house where he could hear the sounds of people eating and laughing happily because they thought they had found the killer.

" Hey, what are you doing?" A branch family member shouted.

Akuma made a slashing movement with his hand and the branch family member's head was cut clean off of his body with a spurt of bright red blood. Four other branch family members rounded the corner, chatting amiably about how Kazuma and Ayano had just saved the family once more when they saw Akuma and a dead family member. They stopped dead in their tracks, eyes glazed with fear as Akuma smiled insanely at them. They barely had time to put up their guard when Akuma appeared in front of them, stabbing one of them through the chest with his hand. He threw the corpse off of his arm into one of the branch family members, knocking him over and spraying blood everywhere. He made slashing movements with both of his hands in an "x" shape. One of the branch family member's body split into four part splashing blood on his cousin who fell to the ground in fear; Akuma made a jabbing motion in the direction of the branch family member who had just fallen. A hole was smashed through branch family member's chest exposing his ribcage and spewing blood everywhere. Akuma walked slowly over to the remaining branch family member, whose shirt was soaked in blood, and pointed a finger at the branch family member's eye.

" Bang."

A beam of dark energy went through the branch family member's head, and the corpse fell over backwards. The family was still eating dinner, unaware of the murders that had taken place just outside. Akuma started to laugh quietly and then escaladed into a full malicious laugh. Akuma's eyes were glowing red as he laughed facing the sky. Akuma's face then broke into a sneer as he quieted down and disappeared into a portal moments before a servant opened the door to let in some fresh air.

The servant girl screamed and fainted while several branch family heads got up to see what had happened, their faces contorted with a mixture of anger and fear.

" More branch family members have been killed, and right under our noses." Said Jugo disgusted.

" But we found out who was responsible so we can avenge their deaths!" Shouted Ayano.

" I'm not so sure, these deaths resemble the one's that occurred earlier and these killings showed an even more powerful, and sinister method of killing. I don't think Lapis is the only thing we have to worry about." Jugo responded darkly.

Kazuma frowned; there was no possible way Akuma or Lapis could put out that much power so who could it have been? Bernhardt? But this wasn't his style, showing up at your doorstep and leaving five dead bodies, there was a much darker, more ominous feel to this killing. Kazuma felt anger welling up inside him, had he and Ayano gone through that fight with Lapis for nothing?

Akuma appeared on the other side of Tokyo and decided to search for some civilians to satisfy his thirst for blood. He saw a man and a woman walking towards him, the woman had long, straight brown hair and a dark red dress and the man had slicked back, black hair and was wearing a white suit.

" Come on Yugi! Ta-" The woman whined.

The man named Yugi, seeing Akuma and sensing his aura, jumped in front of the woman.

" Run, Lady Mayumi! It isn't safe here right now! Go!" Yugi shouted.

The woman named Mayumi hesitated, but obeyed Yugi and ran into the nearest alleyway.

" You bastard! How many people have you killed to have a toxic aura like that?" Yugi shouted.

Akuma laughed crazily and his eyes shone red through the thickening darkness; it began to rain, steadily becoming a downpour. Soon both Akuma and Yugi were soaked.

" If you won't answer, then DIE!" Yugi yelled and made spike of rock come out of the ground, aimed at Akuma's heart. Akuma didn't move, and when the rock came into contact with Akuma's skin it shattered. Yugi backed away.

" Who- what are you? He stammered.

Akuma smiled insanely and raised his palm, pointing it at Yugi's chest; then he fired a beam of dark energy through the chijutsushi user's chest. Yugi coughed up some blood and lay motionless on the ground, a pool of blood tainting the ground beneath him. Akuma laughed insanely at the sky, his eyes glowing red and his aura growing darker and more toxic by the second.

At the police station, Kirika was receiving multitudes of phone calls from police officers around the city.

" Two more found dead in District Seventeen! A man found dead in District three! Five dead in District Seven! A woman and three children dead in District Thirteen!"

Kirika had had jobs where she had seen many people murdered, but this case was the worst of them all. The police had no idea who was committing the murders except that Bernhardt probably had something to do with it, and people were getting scared. She would have hated to admit it, but so was she. Over the past two weeks, there had been over thirty civilian murders, and in the past five hours there had been forty-seven. Catherine was sitting at the table in the middle of the room, sleeping; Kirika couldn't blame her. They had been receiving so man murder calls, they had had to stay up all last night to file and record them. Suddenly a soaked Kazuma and Ayano burst into the room.

" There were just ten more Kannagi branch family members killed!" Yelled Ayano, waking up Catherine.

" Can't a girl get some sleep?" Catherine yawned.

Ayano looked at her with disgust before continuing.

" You need to get over there right away! Come on! What are you waiting for?"

" Ayano, did you ever stop to think that the Kannagis aren't the only ones that are getting killed? Your family isn't a top priority anymore! We need to focus on civilian safety!" Kirika snapped.

Ayano looked taken aback and hurt; before Kazuma could tell Kirika off, she apologized.

" I'm sorry Ayano. It's just that over fifty civilian deaths and counting have occurred and we're overwhelmed with just that."

" Fifty!" Ayano and Kazuma said in surprise.

" I know, its bad, ad with this poor visibility, nobody will see the killer coming."

Akuma had just killed five more civilians and was growing more out of control by the second. He saw a police car with its window wipers working furiously to keep the rain off of the window. Akuma laughed maniacally and shot a blast of dark energy at the police car, shaking the ground with the force of the explosion. Akuma stepped into a portal and appeared at the Kannagi estate on the edge of the forest where he had killed his first branch family members.

" I thought I might see you here, Akuma Satsuriku."

Akuma whipped around to face the speaker; it was Genma, his coat was whipping wildly in the wind and he was smirking, it was easy to see the resemblance between him and Kazuma. Akuma sneered; was this old man about to challenge him? Akuma let out an insane laugh and gathered energy. Genma was now repelling the rain and was cloaked in blue flame.

" What do you think of the Divine Flame?" Genma sneered.

Akuma walked slowly towards Genma who sent a blast of blue flame at Akuma, who didn't even bother to dodge. The flame hit him square in the chest, and when the steam from the rain disappeared Akuma was still walking towards Genma, unfased.

" Impossible…" Genma muttered, stunned; nobody just brushed off the divine flame like that, who was this guy?

Akuma laughed and raised his hand, a giant mass of dark energy had already formed and was growing quickly. Genma tried to create another blast of fire but was too slow; Akuma released the energy, and Genma flew backwards, smashing through a house and sliding in the mud. Akuma sneered; he hadn't killed the old man, it was too soon for his game to come to an end, instead he had just released enough energy to put Genma into a coma to keep him quiet. These Kannagis were over cocky if that was the best they had to offer, but then again why was he surprised, they had grown soft over the years after they had been given their title of the strongest enjutsushi in the world. Akuma stepped into another portal and appeared in front of the last remaining branch family's home. It was time to finish off the weak links. Akuma smashed open the front door and found twelve people ready for him. They all fired at once and the fire consumed Akuma. Moments later, the raging fire was dispelled and Akuma's aura had grown to twice its original size with all the energy Akuma had gathered. Akuma sneered; it was time to destroy the last whole branch family, but since they were the last ones, he would give them a proper sendoff. Akuma raised his hands and released the energy he had gathered. The hose was obliterated, and with the hoses in a fifty foot radius, leaving a giant muddy crater. The main house, Jugo's meetinghouse, some branch family houses, and the head family's living quarters weren't caught in the explosion.

Akuma laughed insanely as he surveyed the carnage around him. Akuma opened a portal and stepped inside, he appeared on the roof of a building, and looked up at the moon, which glowed with an orange light.

"_Yes"_

**Sorry, but I won't be able to post another chapter for this story cause I have**_** e**_**xams in two weeks! Please review!**


	6. Round Two Begins

" You've done well, Akuma." Bernhardt said as he watched Akuma's rampage through a portal." But how will you fare against Kazuma Yagami, my weapon?"

Lapis smiled a tiny bit; Akuma had done all this for her sake, and that was what made her happy. She could feel an emotion that was hers alone.

" Is something wrong, Lapis" Bernhardt asked, amused.

" N-, no master. Nothing at all." Lapis said blushing a little bit.

" You're blushing, Lapis"

Lapis regained her cool composure.

" I'm sorry if that displeased you, my master."

" No, not to worry. But I'm glad that you and Akuma are getting along so well."

Lapis blushed in earnest this time.

" I'm glad that our relationship pleases you my master."

Akuma leaned against a wall of an alleyway; his face and right arm were covered in crimson blood. On the ground lay five mangled, bloody police officers. Akuma walked slowly toward the last remaining police officer. The man's eyes were wide with fear and tears were streaming down his face. Akuma's body shook with psychotic laughter, he looked at the police officer who was pressing himself against the wall of a building, as if it would take him away from Akuma.

"Please! Leave me alone! Pleeaase!" The police officer screamed in terror, he fell to his knees.

" I beg you! Have mercy!"

Akuma's face split in a wide grin; how amusing these humans could be, to bad he had no use for them. Akuma pointed his finger at the middle of the man's forehead.

The police officer shrieked and grabbed his pistol; he emptied the entire clip on Akuma. The bullets disintegrated as soon as they came into contact with Akuma's aura; Akuma leered at the pathetic man on the floor, who had dropped his pistol on the ground and looked at Akuma with a look of sheer fear. Akuma laughed again and slowly licked the blood off of his hand; the man whimpered in terror as Akuma suddenly clawed the man with a handful of black energy. The man's chest was ripped in half and his body slammed into the wall, covering it with blood. Akuma sneered; humans in fear were so unique. Any other creature would rather die defending their own but humans were willing to sell out on any cause to save their own skin, such an interesting species. Akuma let out an insane giggle, he was enjoying his little game, but Kazuma was determined to ruin it. Akuma decided to watch Kazuma from then on to make sure that he didn't interfere with his game until it was time for the fujutsushi's death. Akuma's aura had grown even more toxic with every passing hour; dark splotches were starting to spread across Akuma's face as the darkness flowed through him. Akuma looked up at the sky, it was dark with the promise of a heavy rain, the wind whipped through the crowded streets.

Akuma walked out of the alleyway covered in blood; time to have some fun.

A woman who saw him covered in blood screamed; people turned their heads to see what was going on and Akuma gave them a crazy sneer. Civilians were almost as entertaining as Kannagis. Akuma went wild with a flurry of slashing moves, all around him; people fell over slashed to pieces by his attack. Blood slowly pooled around Akuma, and people ran away screaming. Akuma laughed psychotically, throwing his head back and letting the raindrops wash over his face. As much fun as it was to destroy helpless people, he was getting bored and he wanted more of a challenge. Akuma smirked as he melted into darkness; the Kannagis would be receiving another visit from the god of death soon…

Kazuma scowled; how many deaths were going to happen while he was powerless? It was just like when Tsui Ling died… They had almost no idea who was causing the murders because all the witnesses were killed. They had no way to track the murderer because the killings were completely wanton.

"No regard for life at all," Thought Kazuma grimly.

Kazuma floated in the air above the city, the rain was really coming down and visibility was poor. Kazuma had to rely on his winds in weather like this and since the killer could conceal his energy from even him, he felt completely useless.

" Damn it! How am I supposed to protect people when I can't even sense the killer?" Kazuma yelled in anger, but his voice was swept away by the gale.

Kazuma returned to the investigation headquarters, soaked through.

" We found a witness!" Yelled Ayano as Kazuma walked in.

" Well two, actually." Said two familiar voices.

It was Yukari and Nanase; Kazuma's mouth hung open. These two again? It really was a small world, and they were Ayano's closest friends, but still?

" Well, could you girls help us out by telling us what you saw." Said Kirika curtly.

" Well," They began," We were singing karaoke, and this big guy goes flying! We looked over to see what happened and there was this young guy just standing there. The air seemed, like poisonous. Anyway the guy gets up and gets in the young guy's face, and the young guy, just… sticks his arm through the big guy's chest. Then everyone started to run while the young guy just started laughing, and then he killed like half of the people in the club and just disappeared! It was awful."

Kazuma frowned; young guy? But all of their evidence pointed to the fact that Bernhardt was behind the murders. They didn't have any hard proof, but Lapis' appearance in the park was enough for Kazuma. Why else would Bernhardt have created her if not to torture him? But if a young guy was doing the killing, well it meant that Bernhardt might not be behind the murders. Kazuma shook his head not knowing what to make of it.

" Can you describe the 'young man', as you called him?" said Kirika.

Yukari said," Well, he had dark hair and," she squealed," I don't remember anything else!"

" Nanase! Do you remember anything? You'd better!" Shouted Ayano.

" Sorry Ayano, but I got nothing, we only saw the back of his head."

Damn! If they had only seen his face, Kazuma could have confirmed his now growing suspicion. Kazuma had begun to suspect Akuma again, it was just a hunch, but there was no denying it. Akuma had been near the scene of the crime when the policemen were blown to hell, and more importantly, he had been missing ever since they had fought Lapis.

Akuma sneered at the young branch family members that threatened him with promises of death; they were too young and arrogant to realize that they had no chance of winning. Akuma laughed a little bit and jabbed his hand foreword at their leader. The boy's chest imploded and he spat up blood, and the life left his eyes. The rest of the boys screamed, but Akuma shot a giant blast of dark energy at them, vaporizing three of their numbers. The two remaining ran off in different directions; Akuma sneered; his little game was about to get more interesting. He had let Yukari and Nanase live, just for the revitalizing effect it would have on the investigation team. Now that he had abandoned all caution, it was a race between him and the investigation team; his objective was to kill them, and theirs was to find his identity. Who would win? That was Akuma's game, and he planned to win.

Dark energy swirled around Akuma; he had created a distorted space around the area where the two Kannagi boys had run off too. Akuma had connected the spaces so that they would eventually meet up again and watch helplessly as Akuma killed the other. Bernhardt would appreciate the drama; Akuma would appreciate the sheer joy of destroying the helpless Kannagis. Akuma entered his distorted space to find the boys waiting for him with fists raised; they fired a barrage of fireballs at Akuma, who disappeared and reappeared behind them. They looked frantically for him; Akuma put his hands on the back of their heads and green slime engulfed them while Akuma sucked them of their energy. Akuma waved his hand and the distorted space dissipated, and Akuma stepped into a black hole and appeared in the park where Belial had surfaced. He looked up at the new fountain that had been built; Akuma felt a special connection to this park because this was where his life had changed. Akuma grinned evilly; the investigation would have their hands full with what he was planning for the next couple of days, hopefully it hadn't been a mistake to let them live this long…


	7. Round Two Continues

Round two had just begun, and Akuma was having lots of fun.

Akuma laughed insanely; he had just killed four policemen who had come after him. He pointed a hand at their cars.

" Bang."

A wave of dark energy shot out of his hands and hit the police cars, which exploded with such force, the ground shook. Akuma continued to laugh until four more police cars showed up. He sneered; these police were even stupider than the Kannagis! They just kept sending more and more men after him no matter how many he had killed, it was as if the thought that their numbers actually helped their odds in a fight against him. The police got out of their cars and began to fire their guns at Akuma, to no avail. Akuma closed his eyes as bullets collided with his aura and disintegrated; dark energy suddenly swirled around Akuma with such intensity that the policemen were thrown off their feet. When they got back to their feet he was nowhere to be found.

" Where the hell did he go?"

" Dammit!"

" Wai- ahhhh!" A rookie police officer began, but was cut off by Akuma, who stuck his arm through the policeman chest.

He grinned crazily and whirled around in a flurry of slashing movements. The smell of blood filled the street as the police officers fell to the ground, spewing blood from their severed body parts. One police officer survived with only a severed arm and was yelling in agony. Akuma licked the blood off of his hand, and then he walked over to the policeman who shrank back in fear.

" P-please don't hurt me!" He shrieked.

Akuma let out a low sinister giggle; this was actually somewhat entertaining, he decided to take it a step further. Akuma put his hand under the chin of the policeman and made him look up into his cold, red eyes. The policeman was breathing very quickly, tears streaming down his face. This was only his third week on the job. Akuma who had had a stoic expression on his face, broke out into an psychotic grin, and stuck his hand through the policeman's neck, which erupted in a fountain of red, splattering Akuma's face with blood.

" What do you think you're doing? In the name of the McDonald family, I command you to stop!"

Akuma stood up slowly, laughing quietly. It slowly became louder until Akuma threw back his head and howled with sinister laughter.

" How dare you laugh at me, do you know who you're dealing with? Metatron!"

Catherine stuck her hand out to the side, and a mass of fire spirits formed what looked like a Greek statue with a sword. Akuma sneered; Catherine had egged Kazuma to hurt his Lapis, she would pay dearly for that. The mass of fire spirits named Metatron rushed at Akuma, sword pointed at his heart. Akuma's aura flared and Metatron disintegrated.

" What the hell? How did you- That's impossible! But no matter," Yelled Catherine," You haven't won yet, the real battle is jut beginning!"

Akuma was still looking down slightly so that a shadow covered his face. The wisps Catherine had conjured fired a volley of fireballs at Akuma, but they disintegrated as they got near his aura. Akuma grinned; he held up a hand, and the wisps disintegrated. Akuma walked slowly towards Catherine and sneered at her scared face.

" Ak- Ak- Akuma? But… That's impossible…"

Akuma laughed quietly. Akuma raised his hand at Catherine, and she floated a few feet in the air. Akuma lifted her even further into the air while she screamed for help.

" Kazuma! Kazuma!"

Akuma put his face in his free hand and laughed; she was so entertaining! But she had a debt to him, and she would pay. Akuma slammed her into the side of a building and as she fell…

" Bang."

Akuma shot her through the stomach with a beam of darkness. Catherine coughed up a mouthful of blood as she hit the ground and lay still. Akuma could sense Catherine's life force remain in her and hear the sound of ambulances. He decided to leave Catherine to die in the arms of the medics, Bernhardt would appreciate the drama; he smirked as he disappeared into a portal.

Kazuma floated above Central Park where Belial's hand had surfaced; because of erosion and government efforts, the crater that had been there was almost the same as the park it had been before, but some sections had gentle slopes. Kazuma frowned; something was troubling him, it was something Bernhardt had been talking about in the first Pandemonium.

" _For an experiment."_

Bernhardt had said summoning Belial was for an experiment. Kazuma had no doubt that Bernhardt was involved with all the murders that had been happening all over the city, but how was it all connected?

Kazuma looked back at his old theory of Akuma being behind the killings; he had discarded that theory after the fight with Lapis, but he hadn't seen Akuma since the murders began, so it was a possibility. If Akuma really was the killer, and he was working with Bernhardt, that would explain why he would want to kill the Kannagi family. But something was still eating at Kazuma, it was the overshadowing fact that Akuma's dark aura was strangely familiar?

_" For an experiment."_

How could Akuma have enough power to kill branch family members like they were nothing, and even put the old man into a coma? That was the part that didn't add up. And why had Bernhardt seemed so calm after they had stopped Belial's summoning? True he had said himself that it was for the drama, but still… And then there was Akuma; if he was really working for Bernhardt, how did he tie into Bernhardt's plan?

" _For an experiment." _

Kazuma frowned; Akuma's aura was definitely the darkest that he had ever felt, but if that were true, than how could it be the same as someone else's? Kazuma shook his head; none of this seemed to make any sense…

" _For an experiment."_

Then it clicked. Kazuma knew where he had sensed the aura before; it had been right here, in this park. It had been when he, Ayano, and Ren had fought Belial. But that didn't make any sense, why would Akuma 's aura be the same as Belial's? Unless… But that was impossible, and you would have to be mad to even attempt something like that…

" _For an experiment."_

Usually when a human signed away their soul and was possessed by a youma, their soul would be eaten away until there was nothing left but an empty shell. But that hadn't happened with Ryuya for some reason, so it would be possible, but how much power would the person who signed a contract with a demon lord, let alone the strongest demon lord of all, how much power would they possess?

" _For an experiment."_

Kazuma stiffened, his face contorting with anger.

" _For an experiment."_

"Be-bern- Bernhardt! You mo-monster!" Kazuma said, his voice shaking with anger.

" _For an experiment."_

Bernhardt had summoned Belial, not to destroy Tokyo, but so Akuma could sign a demon contract with him.


	8. Belial Awakens

Akuma sneered; two down and three to go. He had taken care of Catherine and Genma, and now only three Kannagi head family members remained: Ayano, Ren, and Jugo. Akuma decided to go after Ren next; it would be so entertaining to watch Kazuma after he found that someone had killed his brother. The sky was dark, and rain had begun to fall again. Lightning flashed from the heavens and Akuma disappeared into a haze of shadow. Round two of his game would be _very_ entertaining…

Ren Kannagi was walking along the road, with his two best friends: Kanon and Tatsuya. They had just come from the arcade where Ren had won Kanon a teddy bear, which she was hugging tightly with a giant smile on her face. Ren was about to suggest that they go to get a snack when he felt a sudden dark presence down the road; it was coming nearer. Ren stopped; he had sensed this presence somewhere… As it got nearer he remembered where he had sensed it. Ren gasped; it was at the crime scene, that was where he had sensed it! He looked around wildly, but he couldn't locate the presence.

" If only Kazuma were here…" Ren muttered, jumping up to try to locate the source of the aura.

" What's the matter, dude?" Tatsuya asked, concerned.

" What? Oh, nothing." Ren replied unconvincingly.

" Come _on_, Ren, you can trust us." Kanon said.

" It's nothing, I think you guys should probably leave me here, it might get-"

" No way, dude! We saw you take care of that fire guy a while back, you can handle it."

Ren frowned; his friends were really loyal, but he didn't want them to get hurt. As Ren took a step foreword, a young man with dark hair and a sneer on his face passed by Ren, bumping into his shoulder and sending Ren to the ground.

" Hey! Watch it!" Tatsuya yelled.

The young guy sneered at Tatsuya, Ren gasped; this guy was the source of all the energy!

" Tatsuya, lets go!" Ren said urgently.

" No, Ren, this guy needs to learn a lesson! He knocked you over and didn't even apologize! Hey you, apolo-"

Akuma pointed a finger at Tatsuya's stomach, and launched a blast of darkness through the boy's gut. Tatsuya spat up blood as he fell to the ground. People everywhere screamed. A man came at Akuma with his fists raised in anger; without even looking back, Akuma stuck his hand through the man's chest. He kept his cold eye's on Ren's large green ones, which were streaming with tears for his friend.

Akuma laughed; he had wanted to see Ren's actual power, and since Ren hadn't mastered enjutsushi, anger was the key. Akuma figured he'd given Ren enough reason to be angry, but he really wanted to see him lose it. Akuma shook the blood off of his hands and walked towards Kanon, who fell to the ground in fear. Akuma leered at the small girl, and raised his hand. Suddenly Akuma felt an incredible heat coming from Ren, he turned and Ren's usually carefree eyes were narrowed in anger.

" How dare you!" Ren shouted in anguish.

Ren was cloaked in golden flame, which is said to have the largest purifying effect. Akuma stepped away from Kanon and laughed, he just couldn't stop. This little boy had already put up more fight than any of the branch family members, and Genma hadn't done much better than they. Ren was an interesting Kannagi, and hopefully more entertaining than his brethren.

Ren was shaking with anger now; this guy would pay! Ren launched several large fireballs at Akuma and ran foreword pressing on the attack. Ren summoned the spirits of fire and launched a giant wave of fire at Akuma, who was barely visible through a torrent of flame. Ren stood breathing heavily; he might have taken it a bit overboard, but the guy had deserved to be burnt to a crisp. He'd killed hundreds of innocent people, including his family members and Tatsuya. Suddenly Ren heard the sound of sinister laughter. He looked over at the guy, who was standing unfazed, and unhurt in a sea of fire.

Akuma laughed; this boy had done even better than Genma! It was time to show the boy a taste of fear. Akuma walked foreword, and let darkness swirl around him. Ren looked at Akuma, his green eyes wide in fear, he moved in front of Kanon and spread his arms wide. Any normal person would have thought that Ren was trying to just protect Kanon, but Akuma could see the fire spirits gathering. Akuma spun and kicked Ren in the stomach and sent him flying down the street. Kanon screamed and Akuma faded and reappeared behind Ren and smashed him into the ground. Akuma picked up Ren, who was now bleeding from multiple cuts on his face and breathing shallowly. Akuma guessed he had broken a couple ribs, judging by the bloodflow from Ren's mouth. Akuma laughed insanely in Ren's face and threw him into a wall. Akuma moved in for the deathblow. Suddenly, a searing pain spread rapidly over Akuma's body. He twisted and tried to resist this overwhelming agony that was spreading from his chest and pouring into his body.

_Resisting is futile…_

A voice in his head boomed. Akuma yelled in pain and fell to the ground with his face in his hands. Akuma convulsed and fell backwards, writhing on the ground while his aura flared and he screamed.

Ren shook his head; he felt like his head was about to explode. He looked through fuzzy eyes and saw Akuma writhing around. Ren groaned and got unsteadily to his feet, and staggered over to Kanon.

" We-we nee-need to get out of-" Ren grabbed his searing head.

" Ren, you're hurt."

" It's nothing, help me get Tatsuya, lets get out of here." Ren said shaking his head.

They picked up Tatsuya, who was breathing shallowly and dragged him away.

Akuma's body was on fire, he screamed in pain again and again. Akuma felt like his chest was being split apart, and something huge was coming out of it. He staggered to his feet, and walked holding the wall until he found an alleyway. He walked through it, and to his relief he found a clear empty space, save a couple empty beer bottles and some crates. Akuma was hit by a new wave of agony, and fell to the ground shrieking.

" Help me, Bernhardt… Lapis…" He managed as he spat blood out of his mouth.

A portal opened nearby, and Akuma tried to get into a combat stance but fell over panting. Lapis and Bernhardt rushed out and Lapis gently lowered him to the ground, her eyes filled with worry.

" What's wrong, Akuma?" She asked concerned.

Akuma tried to answer, but coughed blood up on his chest. Suddenly Akuma was raised into the air, his back arched, yelling in pain. Darkness swirled around him and he yelled one last time. Suddenly with a flash of dark energy, Lapis and Bernhardt were flung backwards into a wall. Darkness spread across the opening buildings. The air seemed to thicken, and the already grey sky was blotted out and darkness eclipsed the alley.

" What the hell is going on?" Bernhardt muttered.

Lapis' eyes began to sting; would Akuma be all right? He had been in so much pain before. All she had wanted to do was help, but she had been completely helpless when he had been swallowed by the darkness. The tempest created by the swirling darkness had been enough to keep Bernhardt and Lapis pinned against the wall, but Lapis grabbed the sword that had fallen out of her grasp and dug it into the ground. She could see a figure through the swirling darkness, and she tried to make her way to the center of the storm. Suddenly, the darkness was swallowed up by the figure, and the winds stopped. The figure floated slowly to the ground next to Lapis, and landed softly. The figure collapsed into Lapis' arms, it was Akuma. She laid him to the ground gently and stroked the hair out of his eyes, she was glad that he was safe. All of a sudden Akuma's eyes flew open and Lapis and Bernhardt were pushed backwards again by the incredible energy he was radiating. Akuma floated slowly to his feet sneering. All of the black splotches and scars had disappeared from Akuma's features, and he was paler. His hair had turned jet black and grown to his shoulder length; his eyes had turned completely black and surveyed his companions with cold indifference.

"_Bernhardt," _Akuma said in a deep, demonic voice that did not belong to him,_" I require your assistance once more, I require a soul."_

" Akuma? What are you talking about? What happened to you, my boy?" Bernhardt laughed.

Lapis knew Akuma better than anyone, even Bernhardt who hadn't realized the difference in his attitude, and this wasn't him; he might love to sneer at people, but the way he did it now was… inhuman. Demon-like.

Akuma said coldly," _I told you before, human, I require one more soul to invoke the contract. But as you should know better than anyone, I require a soul twisted by youma or by anger."_

Bernhardt frowned and said," What is this about a soul, Akuma? I must demand that you answer me!"

Akuma laughed darkly; Lapis shivered this wasn't her Akuma, this thing wasn't even human.

Akuma said coldly," _Well, Bernhardt, I guess humans aren't quite as intelligent as I had previously believed. I require another soul, one twisted by hate, and revenge." _

Akuma sneered demonically, and his eye's glinted with a harsh light.

" _You will be the final sacrifice made for the contract, you should be proud."_

Bernhardt spluttered," What? Akuma?"

Suddenly Akuma was in front of Bernhardt, pressing him against the wall and holding his neck. Bernhardt gasped for air, and Akuma smiled coldly, his eyes were wide with pleasure.

" Please, Akuma! Stop this! U-use Lapis inste- instead! Please!" Bernhardt choked out.

Akuma's eyes narrowed with cold fury, and he said in his normal voice," How dare you even sug-" the demon voice returned." _Obviously_ _my contractor would not be pleased with that outcome, and you have a good enough soul for the requirements." _

Bernhardt yelled," Hah! You can't over power me!"

Bernhardt put his hands together in front of Akuma's face, and a sphere of purple energy swelled, and Bernhardt released it with a laugh.

" Well, Akuma! I'm sorry your life had to end this way, but remember! You chose this!" Bernhardt laughed insanely,

Lapis screamed and fell to her knees, scraping them on the cold cement; nobody had could survive Bernhardt's move at point blank range, not even Akuma.

" Why?" She sobbed, a single tear rolled down her cheek.

" _Why so cocky, human?"_ The demonic voice said mockingly." _I'm afraid you don't posses the power to even put a scratch on me."_

Lapis looked up to see Akuma standing, unmoved by Bernhardt's attack.

"_You have been a worthy pawn, Bernhardt, instrumental to my return to power and the ability to take my time to exact my revenge on the Kannagi family. That's right, it was my plan from the beginning, and my human asked me to tell you,' have a good journey to hell' and also,' don't you dare threaten Lapis again'. I swear, you humans are so entertaining."_

Akuma tightened his grip around Bernhardt's throat and Bernhardt screamed in pain as he split into little black orbs of soul, which Akuma absorbed. As Akuma glowed with black energy from the activation of the contact he said in his own voice," Goodbye Bernhardt, it's been fun…"

Kazuma felt the shudder of energy as Akuma's contract was invoked. He said in a smug, sarcastic voice," Oh boy, Akuma probably just invoked his contract. That'll make it a bit harder to kill him," Kazuma sneered," But it'll certainly be interesting."

**Thanks for reading! Bernhardt sure got what he deserved though, please review!**


	9. Story Update: Reviews and Filler

**Please Review! I mean if you like the story please review because I need feedback, and even if you think that I need to change a few elements about the story or the plot please let me know! Well, now that I'm done my rant, I wanted to let you know that my next chapter will come out in a couple of days, and this next chapter will be a filler for AkumaXLapis. So, if you have any suggestions just review this Update Notice and/or pm me for you ideas. But I would prefer reviews;) Thanks!**


	10. Lapis' Disaster

It was a bright morning outside Akuma's window, and he blinked in the sunlight. He quickly got up, showered and went to the main room of the mansion for breakfast. The servants had brought in breakfast, and Lapis and Bernhardt had begun already. Akuma took his customary seat at the right hand of Bernhardt, across from Lapis, and began to eat quickly. He and Lapis were going on an assassination today to eliminate one of Armagest's rival organization's president. Once he was eliminated, Armagest would be, once again, the undisputed, most powerful magical organization. Once Akuma and Lapis had finished eating, Bernhardt briefed them on the mission.

" Today, you are to assassinate this man." Bernhardt pointed to a picture on a giant monitor screen." Takeshi Yamaguchi. He is the president of Armagest's rival, and a fierce warrior, but the two of you should be more than a match for him."

Akuma and Lapis nodded and walked outside the house to open a portal as not to disturb Bernhardt's work. On the way down, however, they passed a servant who had been reprimanded for his doings with the servant girls and for his advances on Lapis.

" Phew, Lapis! Looking good!" He said with a whistle.

Lapis closed her eyes in disgust while Akuma stopped abruptly, and let Lapis go on without him. When she looked back questioningly he motioned for her to go on ahead; when the servant began to walk away, Akuma grabbed his collar and shoved him into the wall.

" Don't ever let me hear you say something like that again!" He snarled.

" Hey, hey! Dude, no biggie! I was just foolin' around with her! Honest!" The servant said cockily.

Akuma shoved him against the wall again and proceeded to where Lapis was waiting.

" What was that?" She asked quietly.

" Nothing." Akuma said angrily.

Akuma opened a portal and he and Lapis stepped inside.

Lapis and Akuma stepped out of the portal in New York City, where Armagest's rival was centered. Lapis looked around; the only other place she had seen so many lights and people was in Tokyo, and she had only seen parts of it. Akuma grabbed her arm to keep her from being swept away by the crowd, and they moved foreword towards the tallest building in the city. Lapis held onto Akuma as they moved through the crowd, but suddenly she felt herself being torn away from him by rough hands. A man had grabbed her! He was wearing a green hat and a brown coat; he smelled of alcohol and smoke, and he was drunk as hell from what Lapis could tell. He pushed her into the wall roughly and put his arms on either side of her head and leaned towards her, drooling a little.

" Hey, babe. How's it going? Lemme buy you," he paused for dramatic effect," a drink."

Lapis recoiled from his stench. Lapis frowned; she wished that she had been able to bring her sword along, but since it was an assassination they had to be discreet. Actually, Lapis had only come along because Akuma had asked her too. The man moved in a little closer and tied to lick Lapis' cheek, but she punched him in the stomach and ran into the alleyways. This was the filthiest place she had ever been; there was dirt, slime, and the smell of cheap liquor everywhere. She could hear the man catching up to her as she ran, but she just wanted to find Akuma because she was useless without her sword. Abruptly, the alleyway ended, she was trapped! The man ran passed the dead end, but backed up and saw her. He swayed drunkenly towards her, and slammed her into the wall.

" Playin' hard to get? Eh, girly? I'll get you for that!" The man slapped Lapis across the face, hard. Lapis gasped from the impact of his hand, and tried to struggle but the man slapped her on the other cheek and she fell to the ground. The man picked her up and flung her back onto the ground; he grabbed her shirt and attempted to rip it, but suddenly Lapis saw a figure through her teary eyes.

" What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Akuma had just lost Lapis, and was frantically looking for her.

" Lapis! Where'd you go? LAPIS!" He yelled again and again. He was so distressed, he almost forgot to search for her aura. When he sensed it, he also sensed a dirty aura almost on top of hers. Fury welled up in side of him; twice in one day? What a disaster. He ran through the alleyways, trying to look for her and sense her aura at the same time. He ran into an old homeless man and knocked him down.

" Have you seen a man and a girl go by here?" He yelled at the man.

" I been seein' boys and girls here all night. They be disturbing my-" The old man began.

Akuma kicked him out of the way. What a useless excuse for a human! He ran through the alleyways looking for Lapis, when he sensed her nearby. He could feel her aura weakening, she was being attacked! Akuma's anger was replaced by senseless rage and he walked quickly to the source of her aura. He walked into a dead end and saw a man slapping Lapis. He walked foreword and saw him grab her shirt.

" What the hell do you think you're doing?" Akuma asked, voice dripping with raw fury.

" We were just havin' some fun, little boy. So why don't you just-" The man drawled intoxicated.

Akuma didn't let him finish; he struck the man savagely across the face and slammed him into the wall. Akuma gently picked up Lapis and walked out of the dead end.

" What happened?" He asked softly.

" The man grabbed me and then he attacked me." Lapis said quietly. She could see Akuma's eyes darken.

" Just leave him alone, Akuma. He isn't worth our time, besides we have to accomplish the assassination." Lapis said.

She could see Akuma struggling to accept this and she, later Lapis wondered what drove her to do this, put her arms around his neck, and pressed her face into his chest.

"Please?" She said.

" Fine." Akuma said, like a five year old making a compromise.

Akuma refused to put Lapis down, so they walked with him carrying her to the Empire State building; finally, Akuma set her down, and they walked into the building. Akuma cloaked them with dark energy and they walked passed the guards undetected. They waited until a businessman opened the elevator to go inside and when he stepped out, Akuma quickly pressed their desired floor. They got off the elevator quickly, and Akuma led her to the conference room.

" I'll be out in a sec, don't get attacked again.

Lapis nodded quietly, she was still wondering these feelings in her chest were. Pride? No, satisfaction? She was pondering over this when she heard screams from the conference room.

" That was fast," she thought.

Akuma walked calmly out of the conference room, his right hand was dripping with blood. He led her to the elevator with his non-blood hand and they went back downstairs. Akuma went into the bathroom to wash his hands, which Lapis thought was odd. He could have done that at Bernhardt's mansion, so why now? She was about to ask him, when he came out and picked her up again.

" Why are you holding me like this?" She asked quietly.

" Well, if I don't you'll get lost." He said.

Lapis was about to give him a piece of her mid until she saw that he was grinning at her. She blushed a little bit and instead asked:

" Where are we going? If the mission is complete, shouldn't we return to Bernhardt's mansion?"

Akuma's grin widened," Well, I brought some money that Bernhardt gave me, so I thought we'd spend some time together."

Lapis frowned; why did Akuma want to spend time with her? Up until today, she had thought of him as no more than a work colleague, which was the closest she had ever gotten to anyone. But yet, even though her mind was a mess trying to figure out what to do, she could feel a small part of her saying.

_Do it…_

" Did Bernhardt say that it was alright?" She asked for the lack of anything else to say.

Akuma laughed, why was he so calm all of a sudden?

" Yeah, he said it was ok, just as long as we go back later."

Lapis decided that if her master approved then it was all right. Lapis put her arms around Akuma's neck as he flew into the air. Why was she feeling so nervous all of a sudden? This wasn't like her at all, usually she felt in control of her emotions, but all of a sudden, being with Akuma had made her feelings completely scrambled.

Akuma grinned; he had convinced Bernhardt to give him an American credit card, so that he could take Lapis out for dinner after they had finished the assassination. That bastard drunk had nearly ruined it, but he wasn't going to let Lapis go until he was sure that she would be safe. When Akuma landed, he smirked. Bernhardt had reserved them a spot at the most expensive restaurant in New York.

Lapis looked around in wonder at her surroundings, and Akuma cautiously put an arm on her shoulders.

Lapis had never seen such expensive decoration, except at Bernhardt's mansion, but for some reason, it felt different here with Akuma. She felt an arm on her shoulder and was about to fight it when she realized that it was Akuma's. Lapis relaxed a little bit and moved closer to him, so that his arm wrapped around her, For some reason, being near him gave her a sense of security that nobody else gave her. Lapis shook her head; she couldn't understand all of these emotions that she was getting, and she didn't get what they meant. It was so hard to try to understand them all at once! Akuma was now leading her into the dining room and a server sat them at a two-person table with a little pot of flowers and a candle that glistened in the dimmed light. The server brought them two boards and asked them what they wanted to drink. Lapis didn't understand how Akuma understood the board, but she realized that it opened, and revealed a list of foods and drinks.

Akuma ordered a bottle of Chateau Latour Pauillac, an expensive wine. When the server brought it to them, Akuma poured a glass for him and one for Lapis. Lapis didn't know what to make of the situation. Her master said she should get pleasure from others suffering, but she was enjoying this, so?

" Relax, Lapis! Bernhardt said to enjoy ourselves!" Akuma laughed and drank the entire glass of wine in one gulp, and nearly fell out of his seat.

Lapis stifled a giggle, and Akuma got up and poured himself another glass and downed that as well. Soon Akuma had his head on the table with Lapis laughing for the first time in her life. He shook his head and when the server asked him for his order and barely managed it out. Lapis had taken relaxation to heart and ordered the most expensive thing on the menu. She drank her wine in slow sips and giggled at Akuma's continual downing of an entire glass of wine.

Akuma wasn't really drunk, but he enjoyed making Lapis laugh so he kept drinking. Lapis was finally starting to loosen up, and he wasn't going to waste this opportunity. By the time their food arrived, they were laughing, and even Lapis had tried an entire glass of wine at once. By now she was laughing uncontrollably, and Akuma had to sit next to her so that she didn't fall out of her chair. Both of them managed to finish their meals, and after they paid, they staggered out of the restaurant giggling uncontrollably.

" Hey, you two!" a rough voice shouted." We heard that you roughed up our buddy here!

The man from earlier came foreword.

" That's her!" He shouted," She's the one! Let's getter boys!"

The group of men suddenly rushed at Lapis, who was too drunk to defend herself/

The man with the brown coat was about to grab her arm when he screamed in pain. Akuma was standing in front of her, eyes dark with fury. He had slashed the man's arm off, and the man was convulsing on the ground, bleeding out. The rest of the group charged, but Akuma disappeared and flashed in and out of vision until all of the men were in the ground, dead. His eyes were surveying the corpses with fury and he walked back over to Lapis, who was feeling a bit more sober now that she had just seen Akuma defend her from her assailants.

" Thanks, Akuma." She managed.

Akuma picked her up bridal style and walked into a portal. She buried her head into his chest; she was beginning to like these feelings that she felt when she was with Akuma. The next thing she knew Akuma was placing her gently into her bed and kissing her lightly on the cheek.

" Night, Lapis."

" G'night, Akuma." Lapis said drunkenly.

**I hope you enjoyed the filler! I decided to write this to provide a relief from Akuma's killing and rampaging, but I couldn't keep it out of the story or it wouldn't be Akuma! Anyway, I hope this explains to you how Lapis and Akuma's relationship began, so please give me your feedback!**


	11. The Wrath of Belial

The bullet train sped under the steel gray sky so fast that it was a dark silver blur; Kazuya Tomitake sat with his elbow on the window, looking out at the blurred scenery. He was a young man with short black hair, combed to the sides of his face; he wore a dark suit with a navy blue shirt and a deep purple tie, and he wore thick black –rimmed glasses. Kazuya was an accomplished suijutsushi user, but was better known for his aptitude at solving supernatural cases. He had been called to Japan to solve the case of the string of wanton murders that were definitely super natural, determined by the number killed, and the methods used. Kazuya pushed his glasses up his nose and looked around the train, which was completely full; it was mostly businessmen with loose ties and shirts, waiting to go home at the end of a long day, but in Kazuya's car there was one family of American tourists, the mother was quietly, but sharply, reprimanding her children who had made a mess while the father looked on with an amused look on his face. Kazuya nearly snorted at the American messiness, but retained his air of superiority and class by simply looking away as if they didn't exist. Not wanting to find any more unpleasant sights in his car, Kazuya's gaze drifted to the scenery outside. The sky that had been gray moments ago was now swirling with black misty clouds. Kazuya frowned, pushing his glasses up his nose again and lowered his head so to get a better view of the clouds. Even a normal human could have seen that there was something off about this dramatic change in weather, and Kazuya was already a jutsushi user and an accomplished detective, so he knew that there was a supernatural cause. He squinted at the swirling clouds that had covered the train, and were now blocking all sun from entering the cars. The people around Kazuya were looking worriedly out of the window, talking quietly about how the weather had been bad lately, but the bullet train had a superb safety record, so they would be fine. Kazuya frowned and squinted out of the windows into the clouds. Kazuya's eyes widened and he grimaced in anger; he had seen the faint outline of a person in the middle of the dark clouds. Kazuya's heart was racing; who could possibly be powerful enough to conjure up something like this? He had heard about an extremely powerful fujutsushi in Tokyo, but he could tell from experience that this was not wind magic, but something darker and more sinister. He looked at the faint outline again, which had become more defined, as the train got closer. Kazuya frowned again as he saw the outline raise its hand. A moment passed and Kazuya almost let out a sigh of relief, but suddenly the train shook violently for a second. The American mother grabbed her two children and held the close to her. The children tried to squirm away, trying to play, but their father said whispered sharply to the children who stopped moving and huddled against their mother. Kazuya frowned as the train moved forward normally; had that just been a fluke, problem with the track? Kazuya looked out the window and his eyes widened in surprise as he looked be hind the train and saw the smoking wreckage of the cars behind his. He had just made up his mind to abandon the train when what remained of it began to shake violently. Kazuya only had time to gulp before, with a horrible screech of metal, the train was crushed by an invisible force and then the track exploded around the hunk of metal, sending a black fireball hurtling towards the earth.

Kirika Tachibana straightened her dark sunglasses as she stepped out of her car. The wreck had put a damper on her schedule to meet with Kazuya Tomitake; the train authorities had just confirmed the deaths of every person on the train, and that included Kazuya, who was a powerful mage. That meant that this wasn't freak accident, but the same power that was causing all of the murders in Tokyo, proved by the black fire that was burning uncontrollably around the wreckage of the back half of the train. Kirika walked over to the front half of the train and once again tried to contact Kazuma, but his phone was either turned off or out of battery because her call went straight to voicemail. Kirika cursed; the last time Kazuma hadn't answered calls in the middle of an important investigation was when he had gone on a rampage trying to kill Bernhardt, and Kirika hoped that that wasn't the case this time. She cursed again and slipped back into her car; she had seen enough of the train's wreckage to know that what the authorities had said was true, at least about the deaths, not the freak accident. She drove down the streets of Tokyo, and decided to try calling Kazuma once again. Not wanting to cause an accident, she pulled onto an fairly busy narrow street and turned off her car. She stepped out of her car and pulled out her phone; suddenly she felt the air's temperature drop, and she shivered in the sudden cold. She looked from her phone and frowned; the street, which had been noisy a moment ago, was now deathly quiet. She sniffed the air and smelled something she had become accustomed to in the recent weeks: blood. She looked around fearfully and when the black mist cleared, she staggered backwards against her car. The people who had been chatting amiably and shopping seconds ago were all lying in a fast spreading pool of dark crimson blood. Kirika began to breathe quickly as she fumbled with small strips of orange paper. Kirika glanced up at the street, and her eyes widened in fear as she saw a figure shrouded in dark mist walking towards her, the splash of footsteps in blood rang through the quite street. Kirika threw up the orange strips of paper, forming a barrier around herself and her car. The dark figure walked up to the barrier, its footfalls muffled slightly by the barrier; the figure did not even pause as it walked through the barrier, shattering it. Kirika fell to the ground clutching her chest, and splashing blood on her dress. She heard a cold, dark laugh and looked up as the figure extended its hands, its fingers outstretched. Kirika flinched as she waited for the end to come, but opened he eyes in surprise as she saw the figure walking away slowly. She made a move towards her car but screamed in pain as a slash opened on her chest. She looked around her; there were flickering tendrils of dark energy webbed around her like string. She looked terrified at the figure, who turned around with a psychotic grin on its face. She almost called out his name, but as she opened her mouth, Akuma plucked a tendril of dark, flickering string, and Kirika's body was slashed to pieces in a brilliant explosion of crimson and bright read blood. Akuma laughed quietly as dark mist swirled around him, and in a flash of dark light he disappeared.

Ayako Watanabe walked briskly down the hospital hall with a young man with dark hair following her. He had asked to see Catherine McDonald, but was not an relation to her. Ayako had reluctantly let him inside the hospital, and she was regretting her decision now. She could feel something strange about this boy, something dark and sinister. Ayako told the boy to wait by the door, and walked into the room.

Catherine grunted in pain and clutched the side where she had been hit by Akuma's dark energy when the nurse came in.

"You have a visitor," the nurse said briskly, leading somebody in.

Thoughts raced through Catherine's head.

"Could it be Kazuma coming to visit me? Maybe me getting hurt will make him realize his true feelings for me instead of that red-haired hussy!" Catherine straightened up, grunting in pain a little, and smoothed her hair preparing to comfort a distraught Kazuma.

A young man with dark hair stepped into the room, Catherine stared horrified, and her eyes widened as a girl with long brown hair walked in behind Akuma. Catherine screamed as loudly as she could, and the nurse grabbed Akuma's arm trying to pull him out of the room, but without even looking, Akuma jabbed his arm through the nurse's stomach spattering blood everywhere. The nurse's corpse fell backwards with a thump and tears of fear streamed down Catherine's face. Akuma walked over to Lapis and gently wiped a drop of blood off of her cheek and put his arm around her. Lapis pressed herself against Akuma's chest, and Akuma gave Catherine the same sneer that he had given her before. He let go of Lapis and walked slowly over to Catherine's bed. Catherine tried to get up, but screamed in pain as her side exploded in pain. Akuma growled with low laughter and walked over to Catherine; he put his palm over her face.

"I hope you've enjoyed my letting you live this long, because I don't plan on extending the courtesy!" Akuma laughed crazily as his palm glowed with black energy.

Catherine barely had time to gasp before head was splattered on the white walls. Lapis cringed a little bit as Akuma walked back over to her, stepping over the nurses bloody corpse. He kicked opened the window and picked up Lapis and jumped out the window, disappearing in a flash of black light.

Kazuma looked at his phone as he held a burnt piece of Bernhardt's cloak in his hands; he had three calls from Kirika, so he decided to call her back.

"Damn, she always picks up!" Kazuma clenched his fist, and disappeared with a gust of wind. Kazuma pinpointed Kirika's energy and moved quickly towards it. Kazuma frowned; why was it so… weak? He landed at the entrance to the narrow street, and wrinkled his nose at the sickly smell that hung over the road, and cleared the black mist over the narrow street with a gust of wind. Kazuma froze as he saw the corpses of hundreds of people, and the blood that had slowly covered the entire street, painting the gray concrete red. Kazuma fell to his knees, his mouth open, gaping at the horror that lay before him; as he fell to the ground he noticed that he was right on top of Kirika's energy. He looked around and saw her blood spattered car, and a blood-matted strand of blonde hair. Kazuma closed his eyes, and gritted his teeth as as his anger overflowed, causing a raging wind to erupt around him. He stood up, his pants dripping with blood.

"I'll kill you for this, Akuma." The gray wind swirled even more intensely, and suddenly dissipated; the contractor was gone.

Ayano sprinted down the street in her hurry to get back home; her father had ordered her to return home as fast as possible, and not to go anywhere without Kazuma after school. Ayano rolled her eyes; she should be helping with this case! But after Genma, Ren, Catherine, and most of the branch families had either been slaughtered or utterly defeated, her father had banned her from doing any investigation on her own; her father had wanted to keep her from the case altogether, but Ayano almost through a tantrum, and Jugo eventually let her stay on the case on the condition that she stayed with Kazuma. Ayano decided to hurry home, so she took a well-known short cut through an alley. Her feet moved agilely over puddles and broken beer bottles as she sprinted down the passage. She ran out onto a usually busy street. Ayano frowned and looked around; where was everybody? Especially on a Friday, this street should have been bustling with people, but the street was deathly quiet, and a heavy, dark mist hung over the street. Ayano shivered in the cold, and wrapped her arms around herself instinctively.

"Wait a sec, the sprits of fire should protect me from most cold, so why is this happening…?" Ayano thought worried.

Suddenly she heard a dark, sinister laugh, and barely had time to scream as she was hurled backwards by an invisible force.

**Hope you like the chapter! Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I've been working on my High school of the dead OC fic, but I was able to finish this. So tell me what you think!**


	12. And All Was Silent Update

Thank you so much for reading this story, and I apologize to those of you who have been waiting patiently for this story's final chapters to arrive! I put out this update to say that I have decided to re-write this story as it had turned into a sort of slasher flick towards the end of it, but the re-write does have Akuma back, but with a new story and a lot more complicated plot with some more forethought put into the storyline by the author.

As an added bonus, I will write in a major part for Lapis if I get enough requests to, but if not I will still have her in as a minor character.

So check it out, it is my most recent update "And All was Silent", so post your reviews there or PM me with feedback.

Thanks,

Akuma


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